Southern Campaign of the American Revolution Parks Tell Unheard Stories of the American Revolution

John Slaughter, Superintendent of US Park Service's Southern Campaign of the American Revolution Parks group.

Credit SCETV/Original SC

The Southern Campaign was critical in determining the outcome of the American Revolutionary War, yet the South’s importance has been downplayed in most historical accounts to date.

The National Park Service has recognized the importance of the Southern Campaign with the creation of its Southern Campaign of the American Revolution Parks group. The group includes Cowpens National Battlefield, Kings Mountain National Military Park, Ninety Six National Historic Site, and Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail. Walter Edgar talks with John Slaughter, superintendent of the parks, about the creation of this group, and its importance in telling the story of the American Revolution in the War.

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General U.S. history courses in many high schools depict the American Revolutionary War as a series of battles in the Northeast--Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill, etc.--that lead inexorably to British General Charles Cornwallis's surrender of 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to a French and American force at Yorktown, Virginia, October 19, 1781.

The truth is much more complicated, of course. And a major component of the war, one that paved the way to Yorktown, was the fighting that took place in 1780 - 81 in the South. In essence, according to Dr. Jack Warren and Dr. Walter Edgar, the war was won in the South.